Laptop sales expected to drop in Q4 2014

Despite Intel and Microsoft subsidies, Digitimes Research expects global notebook shipments, not including 2-in-1 models, to drop 4.4% on year and 2.6% sequentially in the fourth quarter, as Windows XP will have less of an effect on boosting demand in the enterprise segment and most of the inventory preparation for year-end shopping sales has already been completed in the second and third quarters.

Taiwan notebook makers will see their shipments perform worse than the global average as Lenovo continues expanding its in-house production rate. Lenovo's joint venture with Compal Electronics in Hefei, China supplied two million notebooks in September and the output is expected to remain at the same level in the fourth quarter, according to Digitimes Research's latest ICT reports on the notebook industry.